On ‘White Fear Being Weaponized’ And How To Respond

On NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday, host Lulu Garcia-Navarro asks Khalil Muhammad, a professor of history, race and public policy at Harvard University, “Are incidents of white people calling the police on people of color for various reasons, none involving breaking the law, more common than in the past, or do we just hear about them more? ” While the scale of incidents may not have increased, Muhammad points to the increased amount of video evidence and media coverage of these incidents. As far as solutions, Muhammad recommends that police agencies develop new training protocols to deal with nuisance calls as compared to emergency calls, possibly channeling the calls to specialized units who could have come out and have a conversation with people, if they come out at all. To hear the entire interview, click here.